Watari's Apprentice
by CrystalfeatherofThunderClan
Summary: Katturai is a young adult living in Wammy's House. When the opportunity for a job comes her way, she takes it, and is thrust into situations she never dreamed of.
1. Past, Present, and Future

Hello… This is my first uploaded fanfic. If you like it, please tell me in a review.

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Disclaimer: List of things I don't own:

Death Note,

Inheritance Cycle,

Guild Wars

or the song _Wishmaster_.

_Wammy's House_

_Winchester, England_

_July 31, 2000_

A pale 18 year-old girl slept. Her long black hair was swept onto the pillow, looking like a black lake against the blue pillowcase. Her eyes closed, she looked like an angel. Until…

_Belleep! Beeelllllleeeep! Beeeeellllllllleeeeeeeeep!_

"Agh!" Katturai, informally known as Kat, exclaimed from under the sheets of her bed, propping herself up on one elbow. She checked the time on the alarm clock: 7:00.

"I'm awake, now shut the _crap_ up!" she yelled in a bout of early-morning grumpiness. A second later, she regained her composure, and swore under her breath. _I hope Mells didn't hear that. _She held her breath, waiting for the tell-tale screams that would be the signal that she had evoked the fury of the mighty Mell-man. When no screams came, she let out her breath in a small _poof_ of relief. _Close call… gotta think before I screech..._ A thump on the wall closest to her startled her out of her (wise) revelation. She yelped and jumped, falling to the wood floor.

"Kat, could you keep it down? Mello's asleep," came a muffled voice where the thump had come from a second before.

"Oh? And you're not? Pulling all-nighters, Matty-boy?" Kat replied, raising her eyebrows. She climbed back onto her bed and sat, her legs under her.

"No and yes, respectively. I was playing Guild Wars. Did something fall?" Matt said from the adjacent room.

"Yes. My person. You banged on the wall that my bed is against, and it startled me."

"Oh. Sorry. I-"

"Will you two _shut up_? It's friggin' four AM!" came a non-Matt voice from his side of the wall. Uh-oh. Mello.

"It's _seven,_ Mells," Kat said. He was up. Crap. But at least he didn't sound overly angry. He only sounded grumpish, which was, for Mello, normal.

"I don't care. If you want to talk so bad, Matt can go to your room. I want to sleep in. You know, like a regular person."

"Whatever. I'll see you at breakfast." Kat turned around and put her feet on the floor. She stood, stretched, and walked to her dresser. She opened up her drawers and selected her clothes for the day. _Le'ssee… black T-shirt… black jeans… and black fingerless gloves. Crap, I sound like an emo. Or at least dress like one._ Kat walked to her bathroom and closed the door behind her.

Katturai stared into the mirror. Her clothes matched her hair, and went along nicely with her eyes, which were an ice-blue color. On the other hand, they contrasted with her extremely pale skin. It looked like she hadn't been outside in days. She combed through her long raven hair with her fingers. Satisfied that all of the knots were out, she took a brush and quickly went through her hair. _There. Hair's done. Now… _She grabbed a black headband and put it on, making sure to cover the pointed tips of her ears. Her elf-ears. _Elf-ears… granted, the chances of me being an elf are slim to nothing, but you never know…_ The elves she was referring to were the elves in a book she had just finished, titled Eragon. _It would be awesome to have magic powers._ The elves in the story were gifted with magic, and had superhuman strength and speed. Unfortunately, other than being smart, Kat was human. Pulling on her gloves, she stepped out of the bathroom, heading for the door that led into the hall.

Kat sat at her usual table, chewing on her pancakes. Beside her Matt happily discussed the finer points of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. (Usually called MMORPG's for short.) At her other side sat Misty, a girl who worked at the orphanage that everyone stayed at and had been Kat's roommate a while back. They were like sisters, and Kat loved her to pieces. Across from Katturai was the Mell-man himself, with his girly blonde bob, generally glaring and listening to Matt speak.

"So, he was like, "I'll sell it to you for one platinum" and I was all "No way, that's a rip-"

"Table vote. Who actually cares about what Matt's talking about?" Mello said in a monotone. No one raised their hands.

"Thought so. On behalf of the table and myself, I hereby command you to shut up." Everyone but Matt sniggered.

"You guys are cruel," he muttered. This just turned the sniggering to a full-on laugh-fest.

"Katturai," came a soft monotonous voice behind said person. She could tell who it was by two ways: His voice, first off. She recognized it, and could match the voice to the face fairly easily. Second, Mello's glare that would have melted a hole in the wall and his angry exclamation of, "What do want, _Near? _We're busy."

"Katturai is wanted in Roger's office as soon as possible," Near said, not scared at all of Mello. He walked off. Katturai paled and leaned in toward the center of the table, gesturing for the others to do the same.

"You don't think he found out the culprits of the dating site incident, do you?" she whispered frantically. Misty shrugged, obviously calm.

"Probably not. It happened a year ago. Calm down, Kat, you're going to have a heart attack." Everything about Misty looked calm, even her shoulder-length white hair. She was, in general, hard to excite.

"Hope you're right."

"Good luck. Remember, even if you are in trouble, there are many ways to exact revenge," Misty said, smirking. Kat nodded and got up.

Kat exited the cafeteria and entered a long hallway. Her heart was pounding. _What does he want? The dating site incident… that may or may not be it. I haven't done anything else that daring, which makes it a logical guess why I'm heading to Roger's office. But, like Misty said, it happened a year ago. He may not care anymore. Or maybe he wants me to rat on Mells or Matt. Which I will not do; there's honor among thieves. _To help relieve her nervousness, Kat started playing one of her favorite songs in her head.

_Master!_

_Apprentice!_

_Heart borne,_

_Seventh seeker_

_Warrior!_

_Disciple!_

_Master!_

_Apprentice!_

_Heart borne,_

_Seventh seeker_

_Warrior!_

_Disciple!_

_Elbereth_

_Lorien_

_Dreamy-eyed child staring into night_

_On a journey to storytel-_

_Crap. We're here._ Kat stopped in front of the door. Heart pounding, she knocked.

"Come in," answered a voice on the other side. Taking a deep breath, she turned the knob and entered. Roger sat at his desk. The old man didn't look angry, like she imagined he would. Actually, he seemed curious. Next to him was a laptop, turned to face away from him. It had a large gothic W on the screen.

"Katturai, Watari would like to talk to you." Seeing the apprehensive look in her eyes, he added, "Talk into the microphone."

Kat obediently kneeled in front of the desk, and, speaking into the microphone, said, "Hello?" The laptop answered her.

"Katturai, is that you? My, my, you've grown up. How's Misty?

"Great."

"Onto business, there is an important matter to discuss. Do you know how old I am?"

"Uh, no…" Kat responded, taken aback by the question. _What _is_ this about?_ She obvious wasn't in trouble; all of the earlier apprehension was gone, replaced by curiosity.

"I am getting along in years, Katturai. I still have several years ahead of me, but I would like to use those remaining years… to train a successor to the Watari name.

"Alright… Where do I come into this?"

"L and I have looked through all of the students at Wammy's house, past and present. We have determined that you are the number one choice to succeed me." Kat was shocked silent. _Me… The next Watari… This is insane…_

"Katturai?" spoke the computer.

"Uh, yeah. I'm, uh, still here."

"Katturai, would you like to become my successor? Do not answer lightly. Once you've began training, you will not be able to stop."

"How long to I have to think about it?" _I'm practically deciding my destiny… So how long _do _I have?_

"I'm afraid you'll have to decide right now. You see, it was a bit risky to contact the orphanage like this. I cannot afford to do it again." _Right now… I have to decide right now… I don't have any plans for when I get out of here… What have I got to lose? If I say yes, the worst case scenario is that I'll be stuck serving some one I don't like. If I say no, the worst case scenario is that I'll end up on the streets or the mafia or something… Why not? It's not like I'd be giving up any big dreams, and I don't have any plans as it is… other than getting a cat. And I'll get to meet L._

"I'll do it." Katturai answered with such authority that she surprised herself. It certainly didn't mirror how she felt.

"I can see you've made up your mind. You may tell your closest friends of this, but no one else, understand? Say your goodbyes today and tomorrow, and pack your things. I'll be picking you up at 1:00 AM August second." The W disappeared. Silence prevailed, until Roger finally said, "You may leave, Katturai."

Kat walked down the hall to the cafeteria. _I'm going to be… Watari. I'm going to meet L. I'm going to be L's contact with the outside world…_

By the time she had reached the cafeteria, some of the shock had worn off. Walking over to the lunch table, she saw her friends had finished breakfast and were waiting for her. She hurried over to them.

"Let's go meet in my room."

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How'd you guys like it? If you have a couple seconds, please write a review and tell me what you liked, didn't like, etc. Also, constructive criticism is appreciated.

Super-short preview for the next chapter:

"Kat," he whimpered, looking up, "I think you killed him…"


	2. The Four Maurading Chocolate Thieves

Hello… This chapter's way bigger than the last one, and took me a while to make. Thanks go out to CaeliaDanan and Actionfry for reviewing!

_Wammy's House_

_Winchester, England_

_July 31, 2000_

"So… what happened…? Did it involve the dating site incident?" Inquired Misty, slowly pronouncing every syllable. The four of them were in Kat's room. They were all sitting; Misty and Kat on the bed, Matt on the computer chair, and Mello on the floor.

"Thank goodness, no," said Kat, trying to find ways to put the last hour's events into words, "But… Roger didn't want to speak to me… It was Watari…"

"Watari? That dude makes some crazy firewall!" exclaimed Matt.

"Yeah, you would know, Matt. Anyway, besides being great with computers, he is also L's contact with the inside world. And… he… needed a successor… and… he and L looked through the students at Wammy's and… picked… me…" Katturai said, the words awkward on her tongue. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of children playing, drifting through the window. Also drifting through the window was sunshine, giving the room a bright mood.

"Crap…" Misty said, mostly to stop Mello from saying something profane.

"Yup… I'm leaving tomorrow night at 1 AM… Will you guys stay up with me?"

"Of _course _we will. Right, Matt, Mello?" asked Misty, eyebrows raised. Misty had the incredible power to most anything into a threat, which she exercised right now.

"Uh, yeah…" muttered the two in unison.

"Right, I was thinking we could do one final goodbye prank… any suggestions?" inquired Kat, smiling. She had been over the shock for a while.

"I know!" Misty dropped to the floor, and Kat did the same. "Roger has a soft spot for chocolate. In the employee lounge, he has several bags of it, all hidden. One time, a couple months ago, I got bored and decided to spy on him. I know their locations… If we steal them, it will seriously freak out Roger, _and_ we get chocolate. What do you say?"

"I'm in!" replied Mello quickly, glancing at Matt.

"So am I!" said Matt quickly. _He_ wouldn't be left out of Kat's final prank.

"Alright!" Kat exclaimed from her place on the floor, "Operation Steal Roger's Chocolate commence! In all seriousness, we should do this late at night. Like, 1:00. No one in their right mind stays up that late."

"I resent that!" snapped Matt.

"Too bad. What electronics do you have, Matt? Like, spy stuff like bugs. Not video games."

"Walkie-talkies. That's about it. I don't really have a need for stuff like that." Matt replied, shrugging.

"Right. Here's the plan: We stay up until one and drink Red Bull. When we head out, we grab a walkie-talkie and I'll take a left, and Mello and Matt will take a right. Meanwhile, Misty will be casually walking around, ready to bale us out on the off chance someone catches us. She will also alert us if anyone is coming. In the end, we all meet in the employee lounge, Misty shows us the stash, and we divide it among the three of us. Misty won't take any, so there will be no proof she did anything. Then we head back here and destroy the evidence. A.K.A. eat it. And shove the wrappers in one of my bathroom doors. Even if someone finds it, I can't get into much trouble because I'm leaving in about 24 hours. Misty, if you'll provide the Red Bull and perhaps a map, we can start putting our plan into fruition." Kat finished, out of breath.

"How much?"

"As much as you can carry without arousing suspicion." Kat glanced at Misty. "Around six should suffice."

"Alright! Commencing step one of Steal Roger's Chocolate!" Misty said, jumping up and walking out of the door.

"Matt, you get the walkie-talkies," Kat said, glancing at Matt. He nodded and left the room.

"Now for some tunes." Kat pressed a button on her iPod, which was connected to speakers. Tarja's (the singer of the song in question) voice filled the room.

_Sla-mori known only by Him_

_To August realms,_

_The sorcery within_

_Do you hear the call of arcane lore?_

_Your world shall rest on Earth no more_

_Maiden elf calling with her cunning song_

_Meet me at the inn _

_Oh last home_

_Heart borne will find a way_

_Master!_

_Apprentice!_

_Heart borne,_

_Seventh seeker_

_Warrior!_

_Disciple!_

_In me, the Wishmaster!_

_Master!_

_Apprentice!_

_Heart borne,_

_Seventh seeker_

_Warrior!_

_Disciple!_

_In me, the Wishmaster!_

"…Good song," muttered Mello. It was impossible to tell whether or not he was being sarcastic.

_Wishmaster_

_Crusade_

_For your will_

_The child dreamfinder_

_The apprentice_

_Becoming-_

_"_I'm back!" Mello and Kat turned around to see Misty lugging six cans of Red Bull, a map in one hand. Kat reached up and shut off her iPod. Misty squatted down, setting the cans on the floor and handing Kat the map. Katturai nodded her thanks and spread it out on the ground. Then, raising herself on her knees, Kat grabbed a pack of colored pencils off the desk. Settling back into place, she opened the pack and grabbed a red and a green pencil. Quickly locating her room on the map, she wrote the word "start."

"Alright guys, gather around." Kat shifted to lie on her stomach, and the boys took up positions on either side of her. Misty sat across from Kat.

"We start here," Said Kat, Jabbing her room with a pencil, "And from there, you guys take that path," she drew a line to a stairwell, "And go down the stairs, and head to the lounge. I'll meet you there, taking an alternate route. When both parties have arrived, I'll contact Misty and tell her to come. Then we collect the chocolate and head back the way we came."

"And if you're about to be spotted, the keyword is melon. If there's time, tell me where you are. Either way, I'll find you and say that you three are helping me with something in the library, and got lost. Once you're in the lounge, hide in a closet on the farthest wall from the door. No one uses it, so you're safe there. If we're being followed, we'll just go to the library and do something until our follower loses interest. Then we'll wait 20 minutes and go to the lounge," Misty added.

"Alright… and now, we wait…"

* * *

The rest of the day passed without much fuss. Kat started packing, and the others helped her. The only time they left Katturai's room was for meals. At about nine, they started drinking Red Bull. By the time 1:00 came along, they were energized and eager to get going. On their way out, they each grabbed a walkie-talkie. Once everyone was out, they huddled in a circle.

"Alright. Matt and Mello, that way. Misty, go where ever you like but try to stay on the floor that we're most likely on. I'm heading this way." Kat's speech broke the silence. They all nodded and broke up. Matt, Mello and Misty went right. Kat watched them go, heart thumping. Then she turned left, and rounded a corner. She knew her plan well. Keep to the outside halls, the ones with windows, as long as she could. Her ears strained, listening for the smallest sound. The only one she could hear was her heart. She padded as soft as she could, not wanting to alert others of presence. _I know that the chance of anyone actually being up, walking around, is slim… but better safe than sorry._ Hugging the wall, she looked around the next corner. Moonlight streamed from a window, providing the only light she had. Seeing no one, she padded over to the staircase and tiptoed down, holding her breath the entire time. Arriving at the feet of the staircase, she turned to her right and headed parallel to the staircase, heading down the corridor. At the corner, she stopped and listened. She could hear noise above her. _Most likely Mello or Matt… Those two are going to wake the whole orphanage up._ _Either way, I need to get going._ She turned the corner and strode down the hall, increasing her speed. Finally, she reached the lounge. She put her ear to the door, listening. No sounds came her way. Holding her breath, she opened the door. Her ears were right; the room was empty. It had counters along the walls, with microwaves and other instant-meal equipment. There were couches and tables in the middle. And, across the room, was a door. _There's the closet…_ She crept from one end of the room to the other and opened the door. _…Misty was right about this room not being used._ The closet was nigh on empty; there were some sheets and blankets on the shelves, but nothing else. She quickly moved to the far corner, so no one would be able to see her feet under the door.

Soon after she settled in her corner, she heard the lounge room door open. _Must be Mello and Matt._ Whoever it was, she could tell they were heading for the supply closet door. It opened with a slight _creak. _

"Kat, ya in here?" Kat recognized the voice as Misty. She stepped into sight.

"I'm here. What's up? Mells and Matt aren't here yet," she said, perplexed.

"Crap! I can't find them _anywhere_. I searched all over both floors."

"I heard a sound coming from upstairs about five minutes ago… You don't think… I didn't hear anyone say "melon." Kat said, foreboding welling in her stomach.

"…I think that's what must have happened." Right on cue, the walkie-talkies started speaking. It was Matt's voice.

"Dryss has us in the library."

"To the library!" Misty cried.

"Wait! Won't it look suspicious?"

"No. I have the excuse that you're helping me with something. Matt and Mello, too."

"Then why didn't we just go as a group with you in the first place?"

"It's more fun the other way. And it _does_ look somewhat suspicious to have a 28 year-old, an 18 year-old, an 11 year-old and a ten year old go into an employee lounge and then lug bags of chocolate back to said 18 year-old's room. Let's go!" On that note, they bolted from the lounge and down the stairs to the library. They burst inside, just in time to interrupt a lecture by Ms. Dryss, the world's crabbiest librarian. In chairs were Mello and Matt, their heads bowed in false shame. False, to anyone who knew them well. Ms. Dryss (and pretty much everyone who had ever punished them for a prank) obviously fell for it. They looked up at the opened door, while Ms. Dryss ignored them and carried on.

"There is absolutely _no_ reason to be up at this time of night," she drawled.

"I believe that it is morning, Ms. Dryss," Misty interrupted in a soft monotone, quite unlike her, "They're with me, and they got lost on the way to the storeroom. Right, boys?"

"Yes!" they replied in unison. Ms. Dryss pursed her lips.

"Alright. What you could need help with at this hour, I do not know. More or less, with two young boys."

Mello and Matt got out of their chairs to stand beside Misty and Katturai. Ms. Dryss turned around, going back to her computer. Kat's lip curled. Mello's eye twitched. Together, the four of them raised their middle fingers into the air. Then they were off again, heading to their original destination.

* * *

"Wow… we four way flipped her off… that's gotta be some sort of record," Kat said as they stepped into the lounge.

"Maybe. Anyway, the chocolate's over here," Misty replied, shrugging. She walked over to a wall and kneeled down, curling her fingers under the molding. A dull roar was heard, and Misty rose. The wall slid to the side, revealing shelves and shelves of chocolate. Mello whistled.

"There's enough chocolate there than under my mattress," he said softly.

"Well, there's more here than I remember… He must have stocked up," Misty said, half to herself. Kat said nothing, but grabbed a bag and threw it to Matt. He easily caught it. (He had good hand-eye coordination from playing video games.)

"Mells, catch!" She threw a bag from the next row to him. He fumbled and nearly dropped it; he was still in awe from the stash. Kat grabbed a sack of chocolate for herself and stepped back.

"Whaddabout me?" asked Misty.

"Don't carry any, just in case you get caught, so you won't get in trouble and possibly get fired," Kat replied, having thought of it earlier, "Now we go back to my room, and Mello and Matt will use my route and walk with me, just in case Dryss is watching to see if the terror twins come back. I wouldn't put it past her. Misty, you stay here until we all get back to our room. I'll call you when we're all inside, and you join us."

They all nodded in understanding and made for the door, chocolate in hand, except for Misty, who closed the choco-vault.

Once they were outside, Kat signaled for silence. _If Dryss is on the prowl, we'll have to be extra-quiet_. Kat, Matt and Mello stalked to the staircase. At the foot of the steps, Katturai stopped abruptly, listening. No sound. She hissed at the boys, who were ahead of her, "Stop. Get down here." They gave her a puzzled look but obediently turned and went back down. Mello opened his mouth to speak, but Kat cut him off.

"Follow me." She continued walking, and they followed.

Soon enough, (about five minutes) they were safely back in Kat's room. They grinned.

"We did it! That was the most excitement I've had since the dating site incident!" said Kat, giddy, "I'm going to call Misty." She pulled out her walkie-talkie from her back pocket. Pressing a button, she said into it, "Misty, come join us." Turning to Matt and Mello, she said, "Let's dump out all of the candy right here." She pointed with her toe to the area where they had first concocted the plan. Matt grabbed a pair of scissors and sloppily cut his bag open, then turned it upside down, spilling the contents on the wood floor. Mello took the scissors and slowly, almost reverently, cut his bag open. Then he kneeled by the pile of chocolates and slowly dumped it into the pile. Meanwhile, Kat had grown impatient and practically murdered the bag with her exceptionally long nails. She poured the chocolate in with its brethren. As if on cue, Misty walked in. The four of them sat in a circle around the chocolate; it was reminiscent of a campfire.

"Let's eat!" All three of them dug in.

"…Remember that one time on the dating site?" Kat asked.

* * *

Kat glanced over at the clock from where she sat. _Three AM… Looks like there won't be much sleeping… come to think of it, Matt hasn't slept since he got up on the 30__th__…_ Mind drifting, her eyes wandered to the door. It was swinging open! Acting on pure reflex, (and she was startled) she grabbed a speaker that her iPod had been connected to, (and thankfully disconnected) and flung it at the door, all within a span of about .5 seconds. _Wow. Maybe I am an elf after all. What else can move that fast? Oh crap…_ Lying, with feet on the threshold, was a human. Matt slowly stood up from his spot near the chocolate-pile and walked over to the person. Matt nudged him with his foot.

"Kat," he whimpered, looking up, "I think you killed him…" Kat, Mello and Misty jumped up from their seats and practically vaulted to the man's side. Misty knelt beside him, holding his wrist.

"Not dead, thank whatever deity may exist. Just KO'ed." Kat laughed nervously.

"I thought someone might've discovered our thievery…" Now that she wasn't running on instinct and adrenaline, she could take a better look at the man. He was as pale as she was. His hair was black, and in wild tangles all over his head. It actually looked… spiky? Kat's eyebrows knitted together. Was he wearing eyeliner? That was Kat's first assumption, until she realized it was only on his bottom eyelid. _Dark circles then… Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing to knock him out… he could use the sleep…_

"Pretty hot, isn't he, Kat?" teased Misty, noticing her cosmic sister of the universe looking him over.

"Yeah…" said Kat absently. _Pretty hot, isn't he?_ "I mean no! I mean, no comment," Kat blurted out, blushing, "We should probably get him inside." Together, the four of them lifted the (surprisingly light) fellow and brought him inside. They set him down on the floor next to the (almost nonexistent, at this point in time) pile of chocolate.

"Cheer up, Kat," said Matt, noticing his friend's complexion, which was even paler than normal, "It could be worst. He could be Dryss."

"Yes, that would be unfortunate," the apparently _not _unconscious man said in a monotone.

"Ahhhh!" Kat screamed, jumping. The raven-haired male blinked open his eyes. The four chocolate thieves watched intently as he rolled into a sitting position, legs drawn up to his chest._ This dude has some dark eyes…_ His eyes _were_ dark. They pretty much matched his hair. _I wonder what he was doing… He dressed fairly casually, and no shoes either._ _Just a long-sleeve T-shirt and jeans._ He in turn was staring at Kat, with as much concentration as she was. Silence prevailed in the semi-light (someone had the sense to turn on a light; it obviously wasn't Kat) room. They held each others' gaze for a full minute, and Kat blinked. Big mistake. As soon as her eyes closed, man foot connected with female face, and poor Kat went hurtling across the room, stopping only when she crashed into the wall and dresser. The forces of gravity brought her down to the floor, where she lay, gasping in pain.

"Kat!" Misty shouted, heading of to said person.

"You mother-rocking batman! How _dare_ you hurt Kat!" Mello screeched, pounding his fists into the obsidian-eyed man's chest. The man gave no reaction, and just stared at Kat. Matt stood off to the side, playing his Gameboy.

"_What_ is going on in here?!" exclaimed a stern voice from the direction of the door. Immediately, the room was silenced. (Except for Matt's Gameboy.) Everyone, even Kat, with her mortal (or not) injuries, looked. And there stood Watari. Matt smiled.

"Hi Mr. Wammy!" he said cheerfully before returning to his game.

"Hello, Matt. L, what is happening?"

"L?" Mello scrunched his eyebrows. Another silence enveloped the room. Everyone turned to face the scraggly-haired gentleman in the middle of the room. Mello and Matt, with their second and third-ranking deductive abilities, and Kat and Misty, with their not-quite-as-good abilities, were able to tell who was most likely to be L. That, and Watari was looking straight at him. L-suspect glanced down at his feet, and scratched one with the other. Then he looked up and said, "I am L." For the third time in a five-minute period, there was silence. Kat looked at Watari.

"He's telling the truth. I trust you two have met…?"

"You could say that…" Kat replied, shifting to a sitting position. Her back was feeling better. _Obviously not that bad of an injury… Hurt like heck, though…_

L shuffled over to her. Squatting down beside her, he said, "Are you alright? I hope I didn't hurt you too badly…" _Idiot. _This _is who I'm going to be serving?_

"I think I'll live…" Kat replied. L offered his hand. Kat considered getting up on her own, (she was somewhat angry at being kicked across the room) but thought better of it and took his hand. _He does seem almost sorry. _His hand was pleasantly warm, and he pulled her gently to her feet. Once she was on them, he gripped her hand slightly tighter and shook it.

"It's nice to meet you, Kat," he said, smiling an only _slightly_ creepy smile.

"Ditto," she countered. He let go of her hand.

"I suppose I'll see you tomorrow, then." And he walked out of the room, Watari in tow.

"… That was weird…" Matt said. Keep in mind that he never stopped playing Pokemon throughout the entire incident.

"What do we do now?" asked Mello, stunned by the events of the past two minutes.

"I say we go to sleep and do something mischievous in the morning. And eat the rest of the chocolate," Kat said. Matt nodded and collapsed on the floor. Kat glanced at him.

"He hasn't slept since he got up nearly 48 hours ago…" she remarked. "Why don't we all crash in here? It'll be easier to make plans in the morning." Kat grabbed a couple pillows and blankets and threw them at Mello and Misty, and climbed into bed.

* * *

What did you guys think? Once the story gets going, I'm going to have two years until the LABB Murder Cases, so I'm open to suggestions on things to do until then. Super-short preview for the next chapter:

_How did he figure out _we_ are the ones behind the dating site incident?_


	3. Last Day Shenanigans

I have the hiccups. Yay me. Anyway… this chapter was up fairly quick. I rewrote about a page's worth the other day, and now I'm satisfied with it. As always, thanks to the people who reviewed and basically anyone who took the time to read this.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Death Note. However, I do have L living in my attic.

* * *

_Wammy's House_

_Winchester, England_

_August 1, 2000_

"_Belleep. Belllllleeeep. Beeeeellllllllleeeeeeeeep," _The alarm clock sounded. Kat drowsily glanced at it. 7:00 AM. _Ugh. I went to bed at 3:15… so about four hours of sleep._ She rolled out of her bed and onto the floor, (_thump)_ crawling to the cans of Red Bull left from the night before. She stuck her finger into the hole on the pop tab and flicked it, cracking the can open. She took a swig, feeling the caffeinated drink slip into her stomach. She sighed. Misty and Matt were blinking open their eyes, thanks to the alarm clock. Mello looked dead. Katturai's cosmic sister of the universe crawled over to her and took a drink of the liquid energy. Kat grabbed the unopened can and threw it at Matt, hitting him on the chest. He picked up the drink and sat up, pressing the unopened can to his lips. Kat and Misty sniggered. Katturai snatched the drink from his hands and popped the top, handing it back to him before he could comprehend what was happening. Not that that was saying much, since he was still three quarters asleep. He took a long drink from it.

Five minutes later, three of them were as awake as they had been before they went to sleep. Mello still looked dead, and hadn't stirred.

"Hey, guys," Kat said, "I know how to wake Mells up."

"How?" said Misty, mischief gleaming in her eyes. Kat smirked.

"Follow me." She led them into her bathroom. Next to the toilet, there was an empty trashcan. (Kat never had much trash.) She grabbed it and went over to the bathtub. She set the trashcan down on the ground and knelt, turning on the water and turning the faucet as far to the "cold" side as it would go. She looked up at her friends, who seemed to realize what was going on. Matt, standing next to Kat, (playing a video game) casually remarked, "Mello's going to murder you," Kat shrugged and turned back to the tub. She put her hand under the icy water. Satisfied, she put the trashcan under the faucet, filling it to the brim. She took it out and stood up, walking toward the door. She tiptoed (not that it mattered; if the alarm clock didn't wake him up, neither would footsteps) over to Mello's sleeping form. Positioning the trashcan over her victim's head, she looked at her two partners-in-crime. They all smiled and nodded, and Kat turned the can upside-down. There was a loud _sploosh_ as the water collided with Mello and the floor. At once he sat up, eyes wide, short blonde hair dripping. His head wildly whipped around, looking at the three pranksters and showering them with droplets of water at the same time. Realizing what happened, his eyes narrowed.

"You little-"

"Run!" Kat shrieked, giggling. They ran out into the hall, randomly going down passages. Kat looked over her shoulder. Mello was running in full pursuit, face the exact image of anger. _Thud._ The wind was knocked out of Kat as she ran into something solid.

"Oof!" Misty, who was following after her, ran into Kat ( Double "Oof!') Matt ran in to Misty (Triple "Oof!") And Mello, who was going much too fast for his own good, saw the pile-up but was unable to stop himself from crashing into Matt.

"Oof!" the four of them grunted, before falling backwards. Kat landed on top of Misty, Misty on top of Matt, and Matt on top of Mello. Together, they looked a bit like fallen dominos. And then L walked around the corner.

"Hi!" Kat shouted, waving from the top of the domino-pile. L stared at them.

"Hello. Are you alright?"

"Yeah," answered Kat from the top of the mound. She couldn't help but notice that he was wearing the same outfit as yesterday. _Well… so are we…_

"Geddoffme!" shouted Mells from the bottom. Kat obediently rolled off the heap of bodies, followed by Misty and Matt. So now, instead of a pile, they resembled dominos that had been dumped from a box haphazardly. And, much to Mello's distaste, Near happened to walk by. Instead of staring, like L, he only glanced in their direction. As he walked away, Mello raised his middle finger in a classic sign of disrespect. Then, figuring it would do no good to lie on the floor for the rest of the day, they climbed to their feet.

"Final-day shenanigans?" asked L.

"Yup," Kat replied. L touched his thumb to his lips, looking thoughtful. Then he asked, "Can I join you?"

"Uh… sure," Kat said, taken aback. _Why would he want to do "shenanigans" with us? Oh no! What if he's trying to find out who was behind the dating site incident!_?

"The four of you are very gifted pranksters, as evident by those vulgar e-mails that got sent to Roger last year." _Holy crap!!! How did he figure out _we_ are the ones behind the dating site incident?_

"How did you figure out that was us?!" blurted Kat, eyes wide. _I thought Matt had made it so our computer couldn't be traced…_

"Actually, it was just a suspicion. But judging by your reaction, you four _were _behind it." _Crap! I basically just admitted to the crime!_

"Don't worry, I'm not going to tell Roger," he said, looking at their mortified faces, "It didn't harm anyone, so I see no reason to." The four marauding trouble doers stared at him. Then Kat turned around, and beckoned for the others to follow.

"C'mon, let's go brainstorm ideas in my room."

A couple minutes later, they were all in their usual places in Katturai's room. L was sitting beside Kat and Misty on the bed, which was beginning to look like a couch with all the people who were sitting on it.

"So… what should we do?" inquired Matt.

"Something that doesn't take a lot of time… and preferably can be carried out before I have to leave… which reminds me, I need to finish packing…" mused Kat, leaning against the wall.

"Ooh, I know! We could send prank e-mails to people in foreign countries!" Misty stood up, going to kneel behind Matt.

"Alright…" replied Matt, opening the internet on Kat's laptop and typing things into a search box. Kat joined Misty by his side and was able to make out a few of the words before he pressed enter, launching the search.

"Top lawyers in France…" she read out loud.

"I can read, ya know," snapped Mello, who had magically appeared by her side.

"Congratulations," Kat said, patting him on the shoulder, "you have an IQ greater than that of a potato chip. Good job." Through all of this, L silently watched.

"You know what, Kat, I-"

"Children," reprimanded Misty, and she pointed to the screen. On it was a website, (in French, of course) with lists of (apparently) lawyers' names and e-mail addresses. Matt clicked on the first one, bringing up a window with the unlucky recipient's name in the top box. He looked over his shoulder.

"What should I write?"

"Well, we could just translate some of the stuff that got sent to Roger," replied Kat, smiling at the memory.

"How are we going to translate it?" asked Mello, still a bit miffed.

"I can do it," L replied in a monotone from his spot on the bed.

"All right, but I have a better idea. We could make up fake cases and questions, and _then_ have L translate it. Move over, Matt." Kat slid in to Matt's seat. For a second, her hands paused, hovering over the keyboard, and then she began to type, saying words as she typed them.

"Hello! My name is Paris Jastafulpooka. I have a couple questions for you," she had to stop because she was laughing to the point of nearly falling out of her chair. The others around her were collapsed on the floor, tears rolling down their faces. Mello recovered first and asked, "You're using the same name as the dating site incident?"

"Yeah," Kat said, laughing so hard that no one could clearly hear her. She pulled herself together enough to continue.

"Before I go on, I should tell you a little bit about the situation. You see, I have a Shih Tzu named Cupcake. My long-time boyfriend and I always have playdates with our dogs (he has an ugly little bull terrier)-" at this they all erupted into another paroxysm of laughter and were unable to continue for several minutes.

Roughly ten minutes later, they had finally finished the message. It said:

hi i'm paris jastafulpooka i want ta ask u something I have the world's cutest shitzu named cupcake me and my bf always have these playdates with our dogs he has a ugly bull terrier named bulla and I think that bulla may have licked cupcake's poor little ear too hard cuz 1 little spot on her sweet little ear is a hue pinker than usual i'm taking Bulla to court cuz he like so deserves it i want you to represent my scrumptious little cupcake i've asked lots of lawyers in the past week and they all said no here's a picture of the spot (Underneath the writing was a picture of a regular dog ear, to emphasize just how light the pink spot was… and how dumb Paris was…)

"Well, that certainly sounds like Paris… let's just hope that he wasn't one of the people who tried to set up a date with her!" laughed Misty. Kat chuckled.

"Alright. L, take over…" She dropped to the ground in order to let him sit in the chair. He stood up (still on the bed, mind you) and stepped down, heading over to the computer. Once he was situated, he read the message over. He started typing, and Kat could see words in a foreign language popping up underneath the cursor. Once he was finished, he deleted the English writing and hit "send."

"Hey, L?" Kat began, "Why are you helping us harass people in foreign countries?" He paused.

"I was bored."

"Oh…" _He was bored? What the heck?_ Kat's stomach growled. She glanced at the clock.

"Wanna get breakfast and continue this later?" she asked.

"Yeah…" Misty replied. L glanced at them.

"Would you like to come to my room to eat? I mean, since it's such a special day… You never know when or if you'll see your beloved Katturai again…" _The way he says it makes it sound so creepy. I know there's a certain amount of danger in this job, but what job isn't at least _slightly_ dangerous?_

"Sure… do you mind if I change my clothes?"

"Go ahead, but be quick. I'm hungry," he replied. Kat walked over to her nearly-empty dresser. There were a few outfits left in there that she hadn't had time to pack. She grabbed a random top and some jeans, and headed into the bathroom.

A minute later, she came out, dressed in a blue T-shirt, her same gloves, and jeans. She raised her hands, stretching.

"Alright, let's go."  
They walked the relatively short distance between her and L's room, which was quite a bit more complex than the other rooms. Monitors hung from one wall, and in front of them were a couch and a couple chairs. L motioned to these.

"Please, sit down. Watari will be along shortly with food." They all sat down in the chairs and on the couch, with Kat sitting next to L. _He's staring at me… Do I have something on my face? This is so awkward…_ _And I think my face is heating up… _They sat in silence (as Kat had thought, it _was_ awkward) until Watari brought in food. _What? Is he eating cake… for breakfast? And yet he's skinny as a twig… _While L ate his breakfast-cake, the rest of them had doughnuts, a slightly more normal breakfast. They ate in silence, (still awkward) and Kat absentmindedly gazed at the monitors. In the cafeteria, people were eating non-doughnut (Kat had to admit, they were pretty good) breakfasts. In the library, Ms. Dryss was yelling at a few students to be quiet; they were obviously ignoring her, and actually seemed to be talking louder to drown her out. Ms. Dryss raised her voice, and so did the students. Kat sniggered.

"What?" asked the man who was _still _staring at her. Kat pointed at the library monitor. He shifted his gaze from her to that, and lifted his thumb to his mouth, gently nibbling on it._ It looks almost as though he's sucking his thumb…_ _It's almost cute… Agh!! What am I THINKING?_

"She's as grumpy as I remember her…" he remarked, seemingly to himself. Kat nodded.

"Yup… she should have been the receiving end of more of our jokes… too bad we didn't know her e-mail address…" Watari walked in before anyone could say anymore, and asked, "Would you four like to take some pictures before we leave?" Kat practically jumped to get away from the insane awkwardness.

"Yes!" It sounded more like a hiss of victory than anything, and everyone (except for L) stood up and walked out of the room.

"Where do you want to take pictures?" asked Watari as they walked through the hallway. Kat thought for a second.

"I don't know… could we take a few with our favorite librarian, Ms. Dryss?" Matt, Mello and Misty coughed at the same moment. Watari just smiled and turned in the direction of the library.

* * *

"Ms. Dryss, can we take a few pictures with you?" Kat asked, smiling sweetly at the old hag. Ms. Dryss scowled, until she noticed Watari. She smiled her most charming smile at him, which arguably wasn't that charming. _I can see why always scowls… it looks better on her._

"Of course, my darling." _Alright… that's only a little creepy… Dryss has a crush on Watari! Gross!_ Watari had the sense to explain.

"It's Kat's last day here at Wammy's. She's going to train under me." The other three people in Kat's posse went to stand beside Dryss, and Watari took several pictures. Then Kat hugged (_Ugh! She smells like old lady!_) Ms. Dryss, said, "Bye, Ms. Dryss," and skipped out the door. The others followed her, and they all swore they could hear Dryss say, "Lucky little bastard."

The next place they went was Kat's room, since it had been their headquarters for pranks since after the dating site incident. (The dating site incident took place largely in Mello and Matt's room_._) They took a picture of them all sitting on the bed, one with all of them in their usual spots, and one of them gathered around the remains the Great Chocolate Pile of the night before. On the way out, everyone pocketed the candy, since they would probably not be able to finish it together. Then they headed back to L's room. By that time it was lunch time, and their stomachs were growling. L glanced at them as they walked in.

"Kat, did you ever finish packing?" he asked.

"No, actually, I didn't."

"Then please do, while we wait for lunch. When you're finished, please bring your luggage here to this room." Kat nodded and strode into the hallway, followed by her friends. They walked to Kat's room in silence.

The four of them started talking once they got inside.

"Pretty hot, isn't he, Kat? I saw you two checking each other out," teased Misty, smirking.

"He wasn't checking me out, he was _staring_ at me."

"No… he was checking you out. And you were _blushing._"

"Yeah, 'cause he was staring at me."

"Whatever. When's the wedding?"

"Shuddup." Kat grabbed a duffel bag and headed into the bathroom, intending to collect her toiletries. She heard a loud b_ang! _coming from somewhere nearby. _Sounds like it's coming from the main room… probably something to do with the trashcan. We never put it back in here._ She hurriedly grabbed her toothbrush and hair-care products, shoving them in a side pocket. Then she looked at _it_. The air-freshener can. _Ah, so we meet again, my great enemy. You shall not explode on my watch. Hmmm..._ _I could take it with me, but what if it explodes in the bag?_ _No, I'll just leave it here._ She headed back into the main room, where Mello had evidently kicked the trashcan against the wall. Matt was playing his Gameboy, Mello was eating chocolate, and Misty was shutting down Kat's laptop. _These guys are practically my family… I'm going to miss them… _She went over to her dresser and shoved random articles of clothing inside the bag. _I can organize later… if I feel like it._ Misty's voice rang in Kat's ears, "Kat and L, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a-"

"Shut _up_," Kat growled, laughing.

"I don't think babies go in shut ups, Kat."

"Well, you can shove them-" there was a knock at the door. Kat set her bag down and opened it. _Oh crap! It's L! How much of that did he hear?_

"Hey L," Kat said, uncertain.

"Hello. Lunch is here." _Did he really head over here just to tell us that?_

"…Okay. We'll just leave this stuff here. C'mon, guys."

The five arrived in L's room. Watari had cake on a cart, and was putting slices on plates. _Cake for lunch!_ The five of them sat down, with Kat -once again- sitting next to L. Watari each gave them a slice of cake. _Is he staring at me again? He is. Hmmm… I wonder what would happen if I stared back?_ Katturai tried to focus on the monitors, but nothing good was happening. (Dryss was putting books away. Not too terribly amusing.) She stared down at her cake and took a bite. _Mmmm… this is really good._

"It's good, isn't it?" Kat jumped, and looked at the source of the noise. L was still staring at her, chewing on his own cake. She nodded.

"Katturai… do you know that name's origin?" _Bit of a random question… _Kat shook her head.

"It's Icelandic."

"… Interesting." Kat squirmed uncomfortably under his gaze. _Why's he staring at me?_ Kat stared into his eyes. They were almost completely blank. From what she could see, he was bored.

"Are you tired? You have dark circles under your eyes." _So do you._

"I only got four hours of sleep last night. Actually, early morning. We fell asleep after you left."

"Watari. Get us some coffee." He said to the old man. Said old man disappeared. A moment later, he came back, bearing cups of coffee and sugar cubes. He set them down on a small coffee table and sat down on the cushion between L and Kat. Kat took a sip of coffee. _Blegh! It's so bitter!_

You should put some sugar in it," said L. He pushed the bowl of sugar cubes toward her. Almost shyly, she picked a few up and plopped them into her coffee. Again, she tasted it. _It's a little better… still tastes like crap, though. Hmm… I wonder…_ She dug in her pocket for one of the mini chocolate bars. She peeled the wrapper of and dropped the sugary goodness into the coffee. She gave it a minute to melt, then tasted it. _Still tastes crappy, but at least now it's like a __frappacino..__. L's _still_ staring at me. _Kat eyes swept over her friends. Mello was eating chocolate, Matt was playing video games, and Misty was trying her hardest not to laugh. _I'm bored. I wish something exciting would happen. I wonder what would happen if Dryss got drunk…_

After everyone had finished eating, Mello finally said what everyone had been thinking in the past 20 minutes: "I'm bored." L's eyes shifted over to him.

"What do you suggest we do, Mello?" asked L.

"Actually," Kat began, extremely hyper from the caffeine, "I have an idea. It's something I've always wanted to do."

* * *

Ten minutes later found Kat at the top of the stairs, mattress lying in front of her. Behind Kat stood the three M's: Mello, Matt and Misty. She turned to look at them.

"Well… here goes nothing." She climbed onto the mattress and pushed her hands against the banister, taking off. The mattress crawled down the steps, and Kat got her final glimpse of her friends.

By the time she passed the second story mark, Kat had sped up, and she was flying down the stairs, hair fluttering out behind her. She clutched tightly to the corners where she was hanging on, all too aware that she might go face planting into the stairs at any moment. _Woo-hoo! This is as good as a rollercoaster! I should've discovered this sooner! The others are missing-_ Kat screeched as an elderly woman came into view. In the split second before Kat and mattress met old lady, she saw the old lady's eyes widen, looking like a deer caught in headlights. The last thing Katturai remembered was the reek of old lady. And then darkness. Which thankfully did not smell of old lady.

* * *

My first cliffhanger. Anyway, please review if you have any suggestions about what I could do in the gap between now and the LABB Murder Cases, be it single-chapter ideas, cases for L to tale on, etc. And the thing about Paris Jastafulpooka- she was a made-up person that the kids (and Misty) registered on a dating site, and then hooked it up so that Roger got the e-mails from men requesting dates and things like that. It came to be known as the dating site incident. Super-short preview for the next chapter:

"Better Dryss than some sweet old lady."


	4. Lucky Number 16

Hei. This chapter took a while considering its size… I just don't tend to write a lot during weekends. Which is strange, since I have so much free time. I was going to make this chapter longer, but I ended up at a point that would make a good ending, so I ended it there. Anyway…

Disclaimer: *Shouts up the attic to L*

Me: L, do I own Death Note?

L: I hope not.

* * *

_Winchester Royal Hotel_

_Winchester, England_

_August 2, 2000_

_1:30 AM_

_Ugh… What the heck? My head's pounding, and I feel like I'm bobbing up and down…_ Kat blinked open her eyes. _Huh?_ She had a good view of L's neck and lower jaw. _He's… carrying me? Bridal style? Crap..._

"Mmmph… wadappened?" Without looking at her, L replied, "You decided it would be fun to slide down the stairs on a mattress, and you ran into Ms. Dryss." _Oh yeah… I remember now._

"Is she all right?"

"Well, you nearly gave her a heart attack, but she escaped with nothing more than minor bruises. You, on the other hand…" _Great… I'm injured…_

"Am I okay?"

"You have a concussion, but there's a 99 percent chance you'll live."

"And the other one percent?"

"Brain hemorrhaging."

"That explains the pounding head… where's Misty, Matt and Mello?"

"Most likely back at the orphanage."

"What?! Where are we?!" Kat glanced wildly at her surroundings. She was in a narrow hallway with cheap blue flooring.

"I suggest you stop squirming, unless you want me to drop you."

"Right…" Kat went completely limp. They passed under the arch of a doorway into a well-lit room. L set her down on a couch and turned to Watari, who was dozing on a chair.

"Watari, please look her over," L said, taking a seat in a chair. The previously-dozing man knelt beside her. She looked out the window. _It's dark… just how long was I out?_

"Are you in any pain?" Kat was startled out of her thoughts by Watari's question.

"Huh? My head is pounding. Other than that, I'm just sorta sore all over." Watari walked out of the room.

Kat erupted into laughter. L looked up from his laptop and stared at her.

"What's so funny?"

"We're even now, aren't we?" L continued to stare.

"I suppose." Watari walked back into the room carrying two small red pills and a glass of water. Katturai downed them gratefully. _So… where am I?_

"Where am I?" Watari smiled.

"You're in a hotel. Winchester Royal Hotel, to be more specific," he said.

"Okay. What time is it?"

"1:30 in the morning."

"Alright. I think I'll go to sleep now."

"Alright. Good night, Katturai." Watari walked out of the room and she closed her eyes, black engulfing her.

* * *

_Winchester Royal Hotel_

_Winchester, England_

_August 2, 2000_

_8:09 AM_

Kat awoke to find black eyes staring into her's, a face less than a centimeter away. On top of her, she could feel a warm figure pressed into her own. Heavy in the air was a strong, intoxicating scent of chocolate. Warm, smooth lips pressed against her mouth, and-

"Kat? Katturai? Wake up!" Kat's eyes snapped open. Hunched over her was L, clutching her shoulder and shaking it; her face immediately grew hot. _Oh crap! __I hope I wasn't showing any signs of what I was dreaming!_

"I was beginning to think that there was something seriously wrong with you. You wouldn't wake up."

"I was tired. I'm up now, in any case, so what do you want?" _Whew… he doesn't seem embarrassed at all, so I'm probably safe… but come to think of it, he never seems to be much of anything._

"I just didn't want you to sleep in too late."

"Oh… okay. Thanks for waking me up." L took his seat with his laptop, like he'd done the night before. Kat watched him for a minute before wandering off to get something to eat.

Kat passed through the door into a small kitchen and looked around. Watari was nowhere to be seen. _Prolly out getting some groceries or something._ She opened the fully-stocked fridge and peered inside. _Yogurt, cake, strawberries, more cake, water, chocolate… where's the real food?!_ Kat sighed. Turning around, she headed back to the main room where L was.

Feeling bold, she sat down on the armrest of his chair and looked over his shoulder. _Time of robbery… date of robbery… miscellaneous boring crap…_

"Whatcha doin'?"

"I'm trying to solve a case." He hashed the information and brought up another file. _Huh? It's got that horrid picture of me that got taken last year… _(The picture in question had Kat looking _very_ surprised, as she had had too much caffeine, because she had stayed up all night monitoring the dating site incident. Consequently, she also had dark circles under her eyes and disheveled hair.) _It's got my name and stuff… an info file of me?_ He looked up at her.

"This information was last updated a year ago. I want to see if it's still accurate." L scrolled down. Kat read the information:

Alias: Katturai

Real name: Unknown

Likes: Sugar, caffeine

Dislikes: Aerosol cans, (Katturai chuckled at this) bees

Position to become L: 16

"Lucky number 16…" Kat muttered, and continued reading.

* * *

When Kat finished, she nodded.

"Yeah… everything's right." L clicked back to the information on the case. For a while, they sat in silence, Katturai watching the screen.

"What were you dreaming about?" he asked after a short time. Kat jerked in surprise and toppled over backwards, yelping, eyes shut tight and bracing for a fall. Instead of cheap, hard hotel carpet, she felt a warm softness under her back when she landed. _Warm… just like my dream. _She opened her eyes and gasped. Above her she could see L, eyebrows raised. _Crap! I'm in his lap!_ She was sandwiched in between his legs and his stomach. Kat, blushing profusely, wiggled in vain, trying to get up. But L made no move to help her, and she quickly relaxed. _If it bugs him, he can help me get up… This is so weird._ And it was only made weirder by the entrance of Watari, carrying two boxes of cake and a briefcase.

"L, where's Katturai?" he asked.

"I'm over here, Mr. Wammy!" Kat said, raising her voice and waving her arms. Mr. Wammy looked faintly shocked. And no one could blame him. All the same, he just walked into the kitchen, rather like a person who's apprentice was _not_ in the lap of his employer. She turned her attentions to L, who was staring at her. She narrowed her eyes.

"You take immense pleasure in staring at me, don't you?" she asked.

"Not particularly."

"You sure have been doing it a lot."

"Yes…" Watari walked back into the room with a plate of cake. He set it down next to L's laptop on a small table and sat down on the couch.

"Katturai, I'd like to spend the next few days with you reading these," he said, pulling out a few notebooks, "And we're leaving for Finland on August fifth."

Kat looked up at L.

"You planning on helping me get up?"

"Do you need help?"

"Yes. Did you not see me struggling earlier?" L scooped her up in his arms and set her on a couch.

"There," he said. Kat sat up and took the notebook with a "1" on it. _Oh yeah! I should see if I can call Misty._

"Could I call Misty and say goodbye to everyone?"

"Sure, Kat." Watari handed her the phone. Kat dialed Misty's number and put it to her ear. L looked up from his laptop.

"Don't tell anyone where we are, though."

After a couple rings she heard, "Hello?"

"Hey, Misty! What's up?"

"Kat? Nothing much. How are you? You hit your head pretty hard."

"Oh, I'm fine. How's Dryss?"

"Quit. Grumbled something about hooligans before she walked out the door."

"Hmm… even though I was leaving relatively soon…"

"Oh, you're not the first one to pull a stunt like that. Probably not the last, either."

"Ah well, better I ran into Dryss than some sweet old lady."

"Yup. You confess your undying love to L yet?"

"No, but I ended up in his lap about ten minutes ago."

"It's a start. You wanna talk to Mells? He's right here."

"Sure. Bye Misty. "

"Bye." Kat heard Misty say, "Kat wants to talk to you."

"Hello?" came a Mello-y voice.

"Hey, Mell-man. What's up?"

"Your pants, I hope."

"Yeah. So what happened after I ran into Dryss?"

"Well… she stormed out the front door yelling about hooligans and quitting, and L carried you to his room."

"Misty must have gotten amusement out of that."

"Not really, since you were hurt. On any other given time, she would have."

"And I stayed there until it was time to go?"

"Yeah… we had to grab your bags from your room."

"Huh… where's Matt?"

"Upstairs, playing games. What else?"

"Making out. Although I can't see how he would do that, since you're on the phone with me."

"Ha-ha," he said sarcasticly, "Bye, Kat." He hung up before she could return the goodbye. Katturai turned off the phone and picked up the notebook labeled "1." L (again) looked up at her.

"I would also like you to learn some basic Finnish, so I had Watari get this for you." He held up a small rectangular case. On it was written 'How to learn Finnish in Three Days'.

* * *

Poor Kat. Poor me, too, 'cause I'm prolly going to have to learn some Finnish to do the next chapter. As always, if you like the story, have any suggestions, or anything to that effect please review! Preview for the next chapter:

"Who the _freak_ can learn _freaking_ Finnish is three _freaking_ days!?"


	5. How to Learn Finnish in Three Days

Well… this chapter took a while to complete. Thanks go out to the usual people, and to penz rite stuf for being a beta of sorts.

Disclaimer: If I owned Death Note, would I be making lame jokes about having L living in my basement? If it's copyrighted, then chances are, I don't own it.

* * *

_Winchester Royal Hotel_

_Winchester, England_

_August 3, 2000_

_8:30 AM_

"Good Morning is Hyvaa Huomenta. Say Hyvaa Huomenta."

"Bite me."

"Very good!"

"Ugh!" _Who the _freak _can_ freaking_ learn _freaking_ Finnish in three _freaking_ days?_

"Kattu?" Kat glared over at L.

"You're not going to learn anything with that attitude," he said.

"Well, how am I _supposed_ to feel?! I haven't learned a single word of Finnish, and we're leaving in two days! And why did you call me Kattu?!" Kat dug her nails into her (at the moment, ungloved) palms and growled.

"You should try learning words you're interested in. You'll learn way quicker. And," he held up one of the notebooks, "Look in the envelope in here." Kat took the notebook (she had been too busy not learning Finnish to read it) and opened it. Taped to the inside front cover was an envelope, which she gingerly opened with the tips of her nails. She carefully extracted a folded, yellowing piece of paper from its depths. She glanced at L, who nodded. She unfolded it and glanced at the lettering.

_Wammy's Orphanage:_

_Take care of my Kattu._

Kat's eyebrows furrowed. She looked up L.

"It was the note left with you on the doorstep to Wammy's." _I remember Misty mentioning that I was left on the doorstep to Wammy's…_

"Huh…" Kat murmured, looking at the rest of the letter. It was written in a foreign language.

Deciding that she wouldn't be able to get much more out of the letter, she re-folded it and placed it back into the envelope. L took a bite of his chocolate cake and gazed at her.

"Kattu means "cat" in Icelandic. One of the nursery maids at the time knew Icelandic and gave you your name. Are you alright? You're shaking." _No, I am _not_ alright. This is crazy. _Katturai took a deep breath.

"I'm fine. But… I'm a cat?"

"You don't look like one."

"Uh… yeah. I'm going to go back to not learning Finnish now." Kat slipped her headphones back on.

* * *

_11 Hours later_

Kat curled up in a corner of the couch, a notebook in her hands. _Huh… looks like a journal._ Inside it read:

December 5, 1987 (_So… I was five at the time this was written...)_

In exactly one hour, I am going to pick up L. I'm practically overflowing with excitement!

_Huh? Pick him up? He was eight at the time; wasn't he a little big for that? Oh… I see… this is Watari's journal. Hmm… so… I can learn more about L. Awesome!_

December 6, 1987

L is with me at the hotel I am staying at. He generally keeps to himself, but will answer any questions I ask him… and I honestly can't help but feel bad for him. His parents died in a burglary four years ago, and he has been transferred from one orphanage to another 15 (poor chap actually kept count) times. Consequently, he has no friends and his social skills are underdeveloped.

_Ah… poor L. Methinks he needs a hug._ She closed the notebook and looked at him. He was, as usual, staring at his computer, sitting in the weird way that he always did. Kat crept over to his chair. _Should I ask him if he needs a hug? But what if he says no? I'll just surprise him._ Kat threw her pale arms around his shoulders, plopping down on the armrest. L looked up in surprise.

"Have you had too much sugar, Kattu?"

"No… you just looked like you needed a hug." Silence. _Oh crap! I didn't offend him, did I?_

"… Thank you…" _Is he… blushing? Oh my gosh, that's so cute! Wait, did I just say cute? Yeah, it is sorta cute!_ Before rational thought returned to Kattu's head, she kissed his reddening cheek, turning it even redder.

"You know, I really do like you," his eyes swiveled over to her.

"I like you too." She hugged him closer, rubbing her head against his shoulder. Watari walked in that moment, carrying a piece of cake.

"Oh. Am I interrupting something?" It was Kat's turn to blush.

"Um… no. Well, actually, it depends on your definition of-" Katturai didn't bother finishing her sentence, since Watari was already walking out of the room. _It's true… but it's not like we were making out or anything…_ A voice that sounded suspiciously like Misty's sounded in her head. _Yet. _She pushed Misty out of her thoughts. _Gah! Get out of my head, Misty!_

"Are you alright? You look… strained."

"Oh, uh, yeah. Misty was just invading my brain." _Ugh! That was such a stupid thing to say!_ L went back to typing on his laptop. Kat hopped off the chair (successfully _not_ falling into L's lap) and knelt down beside her own computer. She shoved the earphones down on her head and clicked at a few things.

"Basic Finnish grammar structure part one," came a heavily accented voice.

* * *

Six hours later found Kat staring blankly at the screen, empty energy drink bottles scattered around her.

"Kattu?" Kat jumped with surprise. She turned to the source of the noise, pupils dilated even with the darkness of the room, the rest of her eyes wide.

"Huh? Waddayawant L?" Kat's nails dug into the wood of the table. She seemed to be vibrating.

"I think you should go to bed."

"HuhwhybedwhynotthecouchortheT.?" She cocked her head to the side. L seemed to ponder the situation, bringing a finger to his lips.

"I see your point. Carry on." Kat went back to staring at her computer.

* * *

_Winchester Royal Hotel_

_Winchester, England_

_August 4, 2000_

_10:39 AM_

Kat had finally collapsed from caffeine overdose at about four AM. And so she was found in the morning by Watari, passed out among bottles of her favorite drink, looking remarkably like a drunk that had had a little too much alcohol the night before. Watari, not fully awake, remarked, "I remember my first beer." Then he turned and walked into the kitchen, intending to make himself some tea. L said nothing.

Two hours later, at 10:39, Watari gently shook her awake. Or rather, _tried_ to shake her awake, because she would not budge.

"She's a heavy sleeper. I wouldn't be too worried," said L, who was sitting on the couch, drinking coffee.

"Yes, but she does wake up eventually, doesn't she? It's almost like she… passed out."

"She did, at about four. Probably too much caffeine," L gestured to the empty bottles.

"Huh… g'morning everyone," mumbled Kat, opening her eyes. She propped herself up with her arms.

"So, what time are we going to Finland?" L and Watari stared at the girl, who was wide-awake, despite being asleep only seconds before.

"Tomorrow, in the morning," said Watari.

"Okay," replied Kat cheerily. She got up and walked to her bedroom.

Five minutes later, Kat walked into the main room, freshly clothed and with her trademark gloves.

"I think I'm going to go exploring, if nobody minds," she said, walking towards the door.

"Don't go sliding down any stairs," said L, "And try not to break any laws. I'm also going to have to ask that you use an alias. And, of course, do not mention to anyone that L is residing in this hotel."

"Alright. So… my name's Liandra Potter (Harry Potter was the first thing that popped into her mind) and I'm staying with my grandpa and my brother Luka."

"That works," L relied.

"Alright, nakemiin!" Kat shut the door behind her._ Hmm… what to do… explore the area…? Yeah, why not._ Kat took the elevator down to the lobby and walked through the front doors. She stopped on the sidewalk and took a deep breath of fresh air, closing her eyes. _Smells like rain…_ _and the sky is cloudy, so I should expect rain. Ah well. I never minded the rain._ _And I've said the word "rain" a lot in these past couple of sentences. _She strode along the sidewalk, glancing at the scenery. _Road, fire hydrant, pay phone, more road… well… I'm bored. It is nice to be out, though._

A mile down the road, (and a while later) she finally found something that caught her eye. _A shopping mall? I've read about those. Might be interesting._ Shrugging, Kat turned into the parking lot and walked to the doors. _I didn't bring any money with me, but I can still window-shop… _She jumped as the doors slid open, seemingly of their own accord. _Alright… that's only a little freaky…_ She continued on, wary of automatic doors, although she didn't find any inside the building. _Hmmm… this is pretty nice…_ Candy shops, book stores, clothing stores… this building seemed to have them all. She turned around a corner and caught sight of a slightly larger boutique. _Victoria's Secret? Name sounds familiar…_ Having nothing else better to do, she went inside.

_Looks like some sort of clothing shop._ Kat went over to a carousel-type clothing rack and thumbed through the articles of clothing. The pieces of clothing in question were extremely short nightgowns, made of smooth, silky fabric. _Are these pajama tops? No, they're too big for that, so they must be nighties. Pretty short, though._ She moved over to the wall, which had several pieces of a frilly black something hanging from slender metal bars. _What is this? _She pulled a bunch of black lace off the wall and held it, turning it around in her hands.

A full five minutes later, Katturai had finally deduced what the poofie thing in her hands happened to be. She almost dropped it in disgust. _Ewwww! It's-_

"Shopping for the honeymoon, Kit-Kat?" Kat jumped and whirled around. Standing there was Misty, smirking, hands on her hips.

"I- you- of course not!" Kattu stammered, turning red. Misty just laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Why are you here at the mall in the first place?" Kat shrugged.

"Nothing better to do."

"Wanna have lunch with me?"

"Of course."

* * *

"So you actually kissed him? I-" Misty was cut off when she began choking on her cake. Kat rolled her eyes, casually giving her a good whack on the back. _People are staring at us…_ Misty gave a final retch and the coughed-up food went flying into an elderly woman's soup. Kat winced as peoples' stares to turned to glares. _Stupid Misty… having to take us somewhere fancy instead of the food court…_

"She did it, not me." Katturai blushed and shifted from foot to foot, unused to and not liking being stared at. She sank back down into her chair. When the staring didn't stop, she turned to the person behind her and snapped, "Take a picture, it'll last longer." Then she looked down at the blood-red floor and didn't lift her gaze for a good long while.

* * *

Next chapter they're finally going to Finland! Yay! And nakemiin means "see you" in Finnish, just in case you're wondering. Preview for the next episode:

"Are you sure I can't just eat you, L?"


	6. Bite Me

Woo! Yay for the three day weekend! I finished this chapter ages ago... and then an awesome idea came to penz rite stuf in a dream, so I added it, and that took a couple more days... Ah well. It was a good idea, and made a surprising amount of sense, considering that it was a dream. Yeah... way better than the weird dream I had about manufactured candy canes :P

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note. And I can't think of anything good to put here. Yay me.

* * *

_Winchester Airport_

_Winchester, England_

_August 5, 2000_

_7:30 AM_

_We have ten freakin' minutes until our plane freakin' takes off!_ The amount of adrenaline that was coursing through her was enough to make a regular person sick; however, Kat was used to her heart beating a million miles a minute, and other energy-related things. Granted, they were usually caffeine-induced, but it was all the same to her.

Liandra, Luca and their grandpa were just arriving at the airport, and were hurrying over to a desk to get their tickets redeemed. The trio was attracting the stares of anyone they ran past, and Kat couldn't blame them. After all, if a disheveled man wearing tennis shoes with no socks, a strangely dressed girl, and a surprisingly normal looking old man were running by her, she would have been at least a little curious. And so it was that they finally arrived at the counter, got their tickets, and headed over to the next station. _This sucks… It's like a horrible relay race where you miss your flight if you don't win… Curse L for not waking me up sooner!_They checked all of their bags, (other than their carry-ons) and bounded their way over to the metal detector, placed their bags on the conveyer belt, took off their shoes, and ran through the strange metal-detecting contraption. They retrieved their belongings and ran to the plane, almost knocking down several people. They flew through the open door and walked through the aile, hastily finding their seats. L and Kattu sat together, with Kat taking the window seat and L taking the middle. On the row across from them sat Mr. Wammy.

"First class, huh? Could be worse," Kat puffed, out of breath, looking around. She accidentally caught the eye of a blonde teenager that happened to be staring at L. Immediately, a spark of anger lit up in her stomach. _How dare she?! He's not some animal at the zoo to be gawked at!_ Despite her anger, Kat put on a smile and addressed the girl.

"Hello. Can I help you with something?" The blonde snapped out of her staring trance and looked over at her.

"Oh! Hello! I didn't see you there! I'm Misa. I'm a model!" _Model? Go figure. Seems to fit the dumb blonde stereotype, too. This is going to be fun._

"Hi. I'm Liandra, and the dude you were just staring at is my brother, Luca."

"Oh…" Misa wrinkled her nose, and for once in her life, Kat felt the inclination to hit a girl.

"Yes. He's a very sweet boy, once you get to know him." L looked over at her, as if to say, "Sweet boy?"

"Oh! Oh! Misa gets it! Luca's very," at the next word, she made her fingers into quotation marks, "special." _She refers to herself in the third person? Things just keep getting better and better. That and she thinks that L's "special."_

"Yeah, why not." Kat shrugged her shoulders. Then it seemed that Misa turned her stare over to her.

"Liandra, what happened to your hair?" _A bear ate it…_

"I didn't have time to brush it, since _someone_ didn't wake me up until it was ten minutes until we had to leave," Kat said, poking at L. Through all of this, he was being unusually silent.

"Oh. Well, Liandra can borrow my hairbrush, if she'd like. It's in my purse." Misa grabbed her purse and handed it to Kat. _I guess she wants me to dig it out myself… I really don't want to use someone else's hairbrush, but… what's this? Prolly just an address book. _Kat shifted the "address book" in an attempt to find the hairbrush. _It's got some strange letters on it… huh. _At this moment Kat absently looked out of her window, just in time to see an unnaturally shaped long white face peer back at her. It seemed to have bandages over one eye, and purplish, tentacle-like hair that got a deeper purple the closer to the tips it got. Fangs peeped out from its purple lips.

"Ahhhhh!" Katturai screeched, launching herself backwards and consequently into L. The creature was _staring_at her. And this time, she hadn't even been dining with a friend that coughed up her food. Misa hurriedly grabbed back the purse. _Well… that was interesting, I'll give her that… But seriously, what was that? It's gone now, thank goodness…_

* * *

"Not too shabby," she said, looking around the penthouse from her vantage point on the couch.

"I should hope not. This is a five-star hotel." L sat down next to her.

"Are you hungry?" Right on cue, Kattu's stomach growled.

"Yeah…"

"Do you want Watari to go and get something?"

"Are you sure I can't just eat you, L?" He looked over at her.

"No."

"So you're not sure? I'll just take a bite out of you, to see if you taste good."

"If you bite me, I'll kick you."

* * *

On an almost unrelated note, I got a Tamagotchi yesterday, and I named it Misa. Way better behaved than the real Misa, I can tell you that much. As always, review if you have questions, concerns, constructive criticism and/or rabies.


	7. Lack of Experience

AN: Hey... I've been gone for a while, off writing an original fiction, reading articles on making writing better, and stuff like that. I wrote this chapter a while ago, so I just opened up the file and edited it... anyway, here it is...

* * *

_Luxury Inn_

_Helsinki, Finland_

_August 6, 2000_

_6:00 AM_

Kat blinked open her eyes, having been asleep milliseconds before. _Huh? Where am I? Oh, yeah… Finland… I don't recognize the room, though… Crap, I've prolly been kidnapped or something._ Then she further examined her predicament. _Nice, squishy bed… red flooring… sorta like the restaurant Misty and I went to… Minus the bed…_ Before her mind could wander any further, a young gentleman by the name of L walked through the door. Automatically her thoughts centered on him, and fire erupted in her stomach. He slinked over to where his precious Kattu was lying and sat down next to her, gathering her up in his arms, so that she was in his lap. Katturai purred and buried her head into his chest.

_It was only… a dream?_ Kat sat up in bed, gasping for breath, shaking. _It felt so real… wow… let's hope Misty never gets into my thoughts, or I'll never hear the end of it…_ Kat climbed out of her bed and went over to her suitcase, grabbing a random outfit and heading into the bathroom to put it on. _Well… I guess I've subconsciously registered the fact that he's attractive… but crap, now I have a crush on him… crap…_

When Katturai came into the living room, she was dressed in a black t-shirt and yoga pants. It was pure luck that her outfit matched, since she had chosen her clothes at random. And then she spotted L. The flames in her stomach instantly leapt up. _Oh crap… my dream hasn't completely worn off… I still feel the extreme need to make out with him… What is _wrong_ with me?!_

"You're up rather early…" The flames in Kat's stomach threatened to come spurting out her mouth. She nodded, and said, "Yeah… I'm going to explore…" Then she walked off. _Real smooth, Kat…_

Kattu berated herself all the way down to the ground floor. She sat down on one of the couches in the lobby, looking down at her lap, still deep in thought. _My feelings in my dream should've worn off by now… Granted, it has, but only by about 50 percent… Maybe I should talk to Misty… She has more experience in these sorts of things… maybe… she never did have any boyfriends, though…_

After a couple of hours of thinking, Kat sighed and stood. _Now I have to waste time getting back up the stairs… and what if L eavesdrops on our conversation? I wouldn't put it past him… Mmmm, L's hot… Focus!_ Kat strode over to the elevator.

"Kat? Misty's on the phone." L handed a cell phone to her. Without thinking, Kat examined his face, taking in every little detail. She jumped when she realized what she was doing, and blushed a deep red.

"Yeah?"

"Kat? Is that you? What was L doing with your cell phone?"

"Answering it, I guess. Dunno, really."

"How's your relationship? Have you kissed yet?"

"Shut _up_! Have _you_ kissed Mello yet?"

"No, my friend, because that would be considered rape. You, on the other hand, are legally kissable. For L, anyway." Kat opened the door into her room and plopped into a chair.

"Can I ask you about something, Misty? I just hope L isn't eavesdropping."

"Oh, relationship problems? Don't worry, you can tell me anything. Eavesdropping… well, he can't eavesdrop if we type. We could go to our chatroom."

"We have a chatroom?"

"Oh, yeah, forgot to tell you 'bout that. Matt made one the day after you left. Want directions to it?"

"Of course."

Five minutes later, Kat was in front of her laptop, reading the discussion and posting her own comments:

**MistOfTheForest: **Kat's gonna be here soon

**GamerMatt: **cool

**Chocolate_Thief: **alright

**MistOfTheForest: **Kat's having problems in her relationship

**Elf-Kat: **Am not!

**MistOfTheForest: **Then wassup?

**Elf-Kat: **I think I may possibly have a small crush on L

**GamerMatt: **:o

**Chocolate_Thief: **(Falls on floor laughing)

**Elf-Kat: **And I keep having dreams about him

**MistOfTheForest:** … Looks like the baby in the baby carriage is coming before marriage!

**Elf-Kat:** NOT THOSE KINDS OF DREAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**Elf-Kat: **But I had a dream that I loved him… and I woke up, and the feeling hasn't completely dissipated… and it really should've by now… At least, mostly dissipated.

**MistOfTheForest: **Have u considered that u might be in love? In all seriousness

**Elf-Kat: **How do u tell if ur in love?

**MistOfTheForest: **Google it

**Elf-Kat: **Anything new happening back home?

**GamerMatt: **I finally got 2 kryta

**Chocolate_Thief: **no one cares matt

"Kat?" came an inquiring voice from the door.

**Elf-Kat:** g2g l

Kat quickly x-ed out of the site and turned to face the main topic of the chat-conversation. _Crap… I hope he wasn't reading over my shoulder or anything…_

"Hmm?" Katturai cocked her head to one side. L continued to stare at her, and she blushed.

"Are you okay? Your face is flushed."

"Uh, yeah. I'm, uh, fine." _Gads, he's hot._ Kat walked past him and into the hallway, and then into the main living area, where plates of a sweet breakfast-thing were set up. Kat took a seat on the cushion next to where L would be sitting. As she had predicted, he did sit down there, and began typing on his laptop. Kat lifted her plate onto her lap and took a bite of the foreign sweet thing, meanwhile gazing at L out of the corners of her eyes. _He's so hot… maybe I could get away with giving him a hug… I've done it before, so it wouldn't be _that_ suspicious… _

_You know… things happen so quickly… only a week ago I was hanging out with the three M's, and today I'm crushing on the detective that people back home strive to be like… It's so surreal…_

"Kat?" The Kat in question jumped and began blushing even more fervently than before.

"Huh? Yeah? What?" Katturai practically barked.

"We're going out tomorrow." _Oh…_

* * *

Yup. So, for the future (after the Kira case) I could have the series (which by that point in time will be on the third story) turn into a crossover with the original fiction I have going, but it would require a little bit of editing of the current story. Nothing major, and I'm willing to do it, so... what do you think?


End file.
